Domino Daze

What makes a moving object move faster? What makes it slow down or stop? The answer is “a force.” You have been investigating how forces affect objects. In this activity, you can observe how a force can cause dominoes to move.

Materials

dominoes (blocks or books will work, too)

clock with a second hand

Procedure

Set up four dominoes on end in a row. Ask a family member to apply a gentle force to the first domino. Observe how the force is transferred, one domino at a time, to the other dominoes. This is called a chain reaction. Set up longer chains of dominoes, in straight lines and in curves. Set up chains where the dominoes are different distances apart. With the help of your family member, keep track of how long it takes each chain to fall.

Results

When a force was applied to the first domino, how was that force transferred to the other dominoes? Did the length of a domino chain affect the length of the chain reaction? How did curves in the domino chain affect the chain reaction?